Another Trial
In another Trial...
Far away from the events unfolding in the other Trial Lands...
A frail young woman sat alone inside a dark prison cell.
Iron shackles wrapped tightly around her wrists.
Chains extended from the walls, binding her arms, legs, and waist.
The room was almost completely dark.
Only a faint crimson glow from the sealing runes illuminated the stone walls.
The woman slowly raised her head.
Her appearance was haunting.
Terrifying.
One of her eyes was missing.
There was no eyeball.
Only an empty socket remained.
Yet despite her weakened body...
Despite the hunger.
Despite the thirst.
Despite the pain that had become a constant companion...
Her remaining eye remained calm.
It belonged to someone who had already endured far more than ordinary people could imagine.
The woman was Nora.
She had been trapped inside this Trial for two months.
Two long months.
When the Trial had begun, she had possessed an entirely different identity.
She had been the Queen of the Destiny Kingdom.
A ruler respected by countless people.
A woman whose authority over Destiny had made even powerful enemies cautious.
But that life had ended quickly.
The Blood Nation had invaded.
Nora had been captured.
And before she could escape...
They had placed a Blood God Mark upon her.
The mark took the shape of a strange lizard.
It crawled across her skin like a living creature, its tiny eyes glowing faintly whenever Nora attempted to use too much power.
It was more than a symbol.
It was a tracking device.
As long as the mark remained on her body...
The Blood Nation could locate her.
Escape was almost impossible.
But what Nora had initially considered a curse had eventually become something else.
A strange blessing.
The Blood God Mark had awakened something inside her.
An innate ability.
Blood Manipulation.
And along with it...
A new Legacy Practice.
Blood Sorcery.
Even her True Name had changed.
The title she once carried...
Heir of Crimson Fate
...had evolved.
Now it was simply—
Crimson Fate.
Yet none of those advantages changed her current situation.
She was still imprisoned.
Still shackled.
Still trapped at the bottom of the Destiny Tower.
The tower itself was enormous.
Its upper levels disappeared into the clouds.
Countless rooms existed throughout its structure.
Prisoners.
Soldiers.
Cultivators.
Nobles.
Captives from different nations.
All were scattered throughout the tower.
Yet Nora had been placed at the lowest floor.
The deepest part.
The place where escape was considered impossible.
She slowly looked toward the walls.
Water stains covered the ancient stone.
Sealing runes surrounded the entire prison.
The moment Nora had first examined them...
She had understood something.
This wasn't an ordinary prison.
It was itself a gigantic sealing formation.
And Nora intended to turn that weakness into her escape route.
She had spent the past two months studying it.
Learning every rune.
Every formation.
Every weakness.
Every connection between the prison and the tower.
And she had discovered something useful.
Water.
Nora had begun creating Ocean God sealing sorcery.
It wasn't easy.
She was given only one cup of water every week.
One cup.
That was all.
No additional water.
No food.
Nothing.
The Blood Nation wanted her weak.
They wanted her powerless.
They wanted their Queen of Destiny to eventually surrender.
But Nora refused.
Every week, when the guards brought her single cup of water...
She didn't drink it.
She stored it.
Every drop.
Then she used it to strengthen her sealing formation.
She carefully manipulated the water.
Tiny streams flowed across the floor.
They entered the cracks between the stones.
They followed the ancient runes.
Then they connected with the existing formation.
Little by little...
The prison itself was becoming part of her spell.
Nora was turning the prison into a seal.
And the seal...
Would eventually become her weapon.
Her throat was painfully dry.
Her lips had cracked.
Her body desperately demanded water.
Her stomach twisted from hunger.
But Nora refused.
She couldn't waste the water.
Not when every drop brought her closer to freedom.
She closed her eyes.
Another tiny stream of water moved across the floor.
A faint blue glow appeared.
Nora whispered,
"Just a little more..."
The water reached another rune.
It connected.
Another section of the formation activated.
Nora smiled faintly.
"Good."
Then she stopped.
She couldn't afford to use too much.
Not yet.
There was another problem.
Blood Sorcery.
Her new Legacy Practice appeared in the form of a massive ancient book inside her mind.
Just like her other cultivation practices.
Its pages contained countless techniques.
Blood barriers.
Blood weapons.
Blood seals.
Blood threads.
Blood constructs.
And techniques capable of manipulating blood itself.
But there was one obvious problem.
Blood Sorcery required blood.
Nora couldn't afford to waste hers.
Her Blood Manipulation ability had the same limitation.
She could manipulate blood.
But whose blood?
Her own?
That was dangerous.
She was already starving.
Already dehydrated.
Already weakened.
Every drop of blood mattered.
If she used too much...
She would simply die before escaping.
So Nora practiced mentally.
She memorized the techniques.
Studied the diagrams.
Analyzed the principles.
But she rarely activated them.
She was saving her blood for the moment that truly mattered.
The moment she escaped.
Nora opened her remaining eye.
She stared upward.
Somewhere above...
Her kingdom was fighting.
The Destiny Kingdom had not fallen yet.
But it wasn't far from destruction.
Nora could feel it.
The Blood Nation had pushed them to the edge.
Their forces were collapsing.
Their defenses were weakening.
If the Destiny Kingdom fell...
Perhaps the Trial would finally end.
Maybe.
Nora wasn't certain.
But it was the only hope she had.
She looked down at her shackled wrists.
For the first time since entering the Trial...
She hated Fate more than ever.
She had spent her entire life manipulating Destiny.
Reading futures.
Changing possibilities.
Saving people through visions.
Yet now...
She was trapped in a future she couldn't escape.
A prisoner.
A queen without a kingdom.
A cultivator without freedom.
Nora slowly clenched her fist.
"I hate this..."
Her voice was barely audible.
"But I won't stay here."
She looked toward the sealing formation.
"I'll get out."
No matter how long it took.
No matter how painful it became.
She would escape.
---
Somewhere Else in the Same Trial Land...
Far away from the Destiny Tower...
Sophia opened her eyes.
Then immediately froze.
Something felt wrong.
Her body was...
Old.
Very old.
Her hands were wrinkled.
Her joints ached.
Her breathing was weak.
She slowly raised one hand toward her face.
Her fingers trembled.
"...What?"
She looked around.
An unfamiliar room surrounded her.
Then she saw her reflection in a polished metal bowl.
An elderly woman stared back.
Sophia's expression became horrified.
"You're kidding me..."
She was inside another woman's body.
An old woman.
An extremely old woman.
And somehow...
Everyone around her treated this woman with enormous respect.
Sophia eventually discovered why.
This body belonged to the oldest living woman in the Beast Nation.
She was regarded as a wise priestess.
A figure people visited whenever they needed advice.
And unfortunately...
Sophia had inherited that role.
The door opened.
A young woman entered.
She bowed deeply.
"Wise Priestess."
Sophia internally groaned.
Here we go again.
The woman looked worried.
"Wise Priestess..."
"How can I help my son?"
Sophia stared at her.
The woman continued.
"He refuses to marry."
"He refuses to have a child."
"He says he doesn't want to continue our family's bloodline."
Sophia remained silent.
She had no idea what she was supposed to say.
She wasn't actually a wise priestess.
She was Sophia.
She wanted to find Nora.
She wanted to understand her Trial.
She wanted to survive.
She certainly wasn't qualified to solve someone's family problems.
Yet the woman was waiting.
So Sophia sighed.
"Then..."
She thought for a moment.
"...get another son."
Silence.
The woman blinked.
Sofia stared back.
The woman slowly bowed.
"I understand."
Then she left.
Sophia remained frozen.
"...Did that actually work?"
She rubbed her forehead.
Isn't that how the world works?
You don't have to force someone.
If they don't want something, find another path.
The thought actually made her feel strangely relaxed.
Nobody questioned her advice.
Nobody argued.
Everyone believed she was wise.
Which meant Sophia could say almost anything...
And people would simply nod solemnly.
She couldn't decide whether that was convenient...
Or terrifying.
Still...
There was something she couldn't forget.
Nora.
Sofia had entered this Trial with one purpose.
Find her.
She had a strong feeling that the Queen of Destiny was Nora.
The more she learned about the Destiny Kingdom...
The stronger that feeling became.
And if Nora truly possessed her Destiny abilities inside this Trial...
Then her situation was dangerous.
Extremely dangerous.
Sophia knew what Nora was capable of.
She also knew how dangerous a person with Destiny abilities could become.
If the Blood Nation had captured her...
Then Sophia couldn't simply sit around and wait.
Unfortunately...
There was a problem.
Sophia's current body couldn't do much.
She was terribly weak.
Her legs hurt after walking too far.
Her breathing became heavy after even small amounts of exertion.
She couldn't fight.
She couldn't travel long distances.
She couldn't simply storm the Destiny Tower and rescue Nora.
So she needed someone else.
Someone strong.
Someone capable of fighting.
Someone who could travel through the dangerous territories between the Beast Nation and the Destiny Kingdom.
Her grandson.
A middle-aged man.
A fighter.
A hunter.
Someone who had spent his entire life avoiding political affairs.
Unfortunately...
That made things complicated.
Sophia eventually called him.
He arrived later that evening.
The man entered the room and bowed.
"Grandmother."
Sophia studied him carefully.
He looked tired.
His armor was worn.
Several weapons hung from his waist.
Clearly, he had just returned from hunting.
Sophia took a breath.
"I need you to do something for me."
Her grandson frowned.
"What?"
"I need you to find the Queen of Destiny."
His expression immediately changed.
"The Queen?"
Sofia nodded.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"I believe she's in danger."
He immediately shook his head.
"Grandmother..."
"I don't involve myself with clans."
"I don't involve myself with politics."
"I hunt."
"That's all."
Sophia sighed.
She had expected that response.
"I know."
"But I'm asking you."
He remained silent.
Sophia slowly reached for his hand.
"I'm dying."
His expression changed.
"Grandmother..."
"This is my dying wish."
He looked at her for a long time.
The old woman he had known his entire life...
Was asking him for one final favor.
Finally...
He sighed.
"Fine."
"I'll do it."
Sophia smiled.
"Thank you."
But inside...
She was nervous.
Very nervous.
What if he failed?
What if he couldn't find Nora?
What if the Blood Nation discovered him?
What if the Destiny Kingdom fell before they reached it?
And perhaps worst of all...
What if Sophia herself died while trapped inside this weak old body?
She didn't want to die here.
Not like this.
She still had to find Nora.
She still had to understand her own Trial.
She still had to return to the real world.
Sophia quietly looked toward the window.
Outside...
The Beast Nation continued living peacefully.
People bowed whenever they saw her.
Children whispered about the wise priestess.
Hunters came to ask for advice.
Warriors came seeking guidance.
Parents came with family problems.
Everyone believed the old woman possessed the wisdom of countless generations.
Sophia couldn't help sighing.
"Wise priestess..."
She muttered.
"Sometimes I think I'm going to lose my mind."
She looked toward the dark horizon.
Somewhere far away...
Nora was imprisoned inside the Destiny Tower.
Sophia's grandson was preparing to search for her.
The Blood Nation was closing in.
And the Destiny Kingdom was slowly approaching collapse.
Neither woman knew exactly how their paths would cross.
But one thing was certain.
Their Trials had finally begun moving.